The present invention relates to a device for cooling gases and optionally drying solid particles added to the gases, especially an evaporation cooler and spray dryers.
Such devices are known. They are comprised of a vertically arranged reactor housing into which the gas is introduced in the vertical direction via at least one inlet line and through which the gas flows in the vertical direction whereby a liquid is introduced into the gas after its introduction into the reactor housing and optionally solid particles are introduced via at least one nozzle. By evaporating the liquid heat of evaporation is removed from the gas so that the gas is cooled. If the added liquid additionally contains solid particles, these particles are dried by passing through the reactor housing.
The known devices in the form of evaporation coolers or spray dryers of the aforementioned kind have the disadvantage that the gas stream not only enters the reactor housing with a non-uniform velocity profile, viewed over the cross-section of the inlet line, but also, dependent on the design of the inlet line, with a flow direction that deviates from the center axis of the reactor housing. Within the reactor housing this results in liquid and temperature concentrations which require a greater constructive volume and lead to a reduced efficiency of the device. When adding solid particles, the risk of deposition at the sidewalls is present in the known devices, especially due to the lateral deflection of the gas stream. Such deposits lead to the need for cleaning operations of the reactor housing within relatively short time intervals which cause frequent downtimes of the device.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device of the aforementioned kind for cooling gases and optionally drying solid particles contained within the gases with which with a constructive expenditure as low as possible the aforedescribed disadvantages can be overcome such that the stream of the gases, independent of the design of the inlet line, can be introduced into the reactor housing uniformly and parallel to the longitudinal center axis of the reactor housing.